


Soft Words, Soft Mouths

by DictionaryWrites



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: F/M, M/M, Watching Someone Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 07:05:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14612307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DictionaryWrites/pseuds/DictionaryWrites
Summary: Julian talks in his sleep. Usually, it's cute: but sometimes... Sometimes, Leeta wishes he didn't.





	Soft Words, Soft Mouths

**Author's Note:**

> Anon: Writing prompt - Julian talks in his sleep (secondary idea: during their relationship, Leeta hears him say things that reveal he has feelings for Garak)

Leeta reaches forward, carefully pushing a loose curl of thick, soft hair back from Julian’s face. He’s fast asleep, his jaw slack, his face all but melting into the plush of Leeta’s pillow, and he holds Kululaka loosely in his left hand, as if self-conscious about holding the bear to his breast even in sleep. She does this, sometimes: sitting on the edge of the bed, she’ll read on her PADD or darn rips and tears in her dabo dresses, and every now and then, she’ll glance at Julian.

He barely moves when he sleeps – most of the men Leeta’s slept with fidget or roll around, but Julian doesn’t. Once he lies down in one position, on his side, he barely moves in the night, and she supposes that is why he has to talk so much when he sleeps: he has to get out that dreaming energy somehow.

Most of the time, Julian says incomprehensible nonsense – he mumbles and groans in his sleep, and none of it is understandable, even with the UT translating the Terran languages he uses, but sometimes, Leeta catches snatches.

“ _Not that one_ ,” Julian had mumbled one night, sounding irritable even through the haze of unconsciousness, “ _That toast isn’t nearly dark enough for this procedure.”_ Leeta had clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from waking her with him with her giggles, and she had written it down word-for-word, so that she could tell Julian in the morning.

 _“Quark,”_ Julian had muttered early one morning, only minutes before his alarm was due to go off, his face pressed against Kukulaka’s soft belly, “ _Tell me what the passcode is. I just want a jamba stick.”_ Leeta had smiled, fondly, and made a note to suggest jamba sticks for breakfast the next morning.

Tonight, Leeta is working on an essay, tapping away on her PADD. It’s nearly done, and she just needs to hammer out her conclusion. She’ll slide into bed with Julian in an hour or so, but for the time being? It’s nice to have him sleeping beside her. His rhythmic breathing, in, out, in, out, helps her concentrate on her work.

He laughs softly in his sleep, and she turns to glance at him, feeling herself smile. “ _Garak,”_ he murmurs, voice dripping with amusement, “ _We can’t.”_ Leeta feels the smile on her face freeze, but it doesn’t fade away entirely. Instead, the smile becomes quietly melancholy, quietly sad. Julian laughs again, so quietly. Julian doesn’t mean it, of course – it’s only a dream.

Only a dream.

Leeta reaches out, and she pushes Kukulaka closer to Julian’s chest, ensuring the sheets are tucked soundly around his sleeping body, and then she steps out of her bedroom and into her meagre living quarters instead, working on her essay there, instead.

Working in silence, without the rhythm of his breaths, feels wrong, but it’s better than the alternative.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Check out [my Tumblr](http://dictionarywrites.tumblr.com) for more, or if you want to send in a request.


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